Sept 25, 2011 Wonder - Mexican Riviera

[lostinyonkers]

Oh nevermind... just got the phone call.

 

[yukongirl123]

Only 8 rooms doing FE? I may have over bought. Not shocking.

I was ridiculously excited about this cruise for the last 10 months and lately I haven't been checking these boards as much. I am sure there is a correlation there (and the crazy increased stress at work).

I need to start obsessing again... this will help:

8 more weeks until I can book my excursions/Palo ressie!!!!

I am actually excited about doing Palo alone. At first I thought it may be weird with all the couples having a romantic time but the idea of reading on my Kindle while someone stuffs me full of (what I imagine to be) wonderful food sounds too good to be true!

They may be others that join the FE group as the cruise date draws closer, that happens a lot.

I think Palo w/b great to do alone. The staff is veryy attentive and it has such a nice ambience.

Did anyone else receive a phone call today about our cruise? They've revised our itinerary - two stops at Cabo. They cancelled Mazatlan. Gotta say - after they cancelled it in the spring, I didn't see how Mazatlan could improve things enough that it;d be safe for us in the fall. So, I'm glad!!! Plus, I hear Cabo is beautiful!

WOW that's interesting news! I was looking forward to doing the horseback riding thing in Mazatlan, but I'm perfectly happy with two days in Cabo. It is beautiful!!

Did they say exactly what the itinerary is? Back to back in Cabo? I can't remember how they're doing it right now.

I didn't get a call about this, I just the on my ressie on the DCL site and it still has Mazatlan listed as a port. Two days in Cabo is fine with me though!

Janice

 

[Jennifer in MI]

Oh well I'm also obsessing. This is our first cruise and our first Disney cruise and I want to make sure we get the most out of it. I have a disney countdown going on my Ipad and tell my husband every evening how many days to go. We live in Phoenix so have decided to drive across the day before and have booked into the Doubletree. We are actually then staying on for 6 days after in Dana Point and have rented a condo for the week so we can have a trip to Disneyland too. I'm starting to work out how to make my own Fish Extender and have all these fantastic ideas and I want to try. I have also started finding gifts for the FE too. Don't worry I'll join you in all the obsessing!

Yay a fellow obsesser!! I actually think half the fun of a vacation is planning it. Makes it last longer!

Are you planning on making door decorations? I love looking at the pictures of everyone's cute doors and I think it would be a fun little project for my DD and me to work on while she's home from school this summer. I REALLY love the Mickey Ears/Goofy Hats people put around their door numbers, but I guess I need to do some more research into it because I can't figure out how they know exactly how big to make them.

Count me in with the obsessors!!!!! I've been obsessing about this cruise since we booked it! I think I know which excursions we'll do and everything! I know what my FE gifts are. Now I need to make them. I'm also going to do the hats to go around our door number. I saw a thread about them on the cruise board. She had the patterns and everything!

I'm waiting until we're finished with our school year before I start in on these projects though. Next week!!!!!

Fun! We haven't told my DD yet, so I can't really start working on anything until she knows. We're waiting to be 100% sure my DH can get off work for that week. Her birthday is June 20th... which is right around the time we need to pay in full... so we're thinking of telling her on her birthday, wrapping something in a gift box or something like that.

I would link you to a picture of one of the Mickey-Head-over-the-room-number thingies but I still can't link...lol

A surprise!!! What fun! We surprised our kids last year with a cruise. We told them by having tshirts made with their favorite Disney character on the front and "My parents surprised me with a Disney Cruise today!" I handed them out on the morning of our cruise - about 10 minutes before we left for the port. The kids were SOOOOOO excited!

Yay more action in our thread!!

!

I know!!!! I'm so excited to see action here!!!

So,there've been a lot of people dropping out of our group. Does anyone have kids my kids' ages??? At the time of cruise, I'll have boys - 15, 13, 11 and a girl - 5.

 

[lostinyonkers]

We surprised our kids last year with a cruise. We told them by having tshirts made with their favorite Disney character on the front and "My parents surprised me with a Disney Cruise today!" I handed them out on the morning of our cruise - about 10 minutes before we left for the port. The kids were SOOOOOO excited!

Ten minutes before ... are you kidding me?!! That is so cool!! I would LOVE to do that, but there is just no way I could hold it in that long!! I'm finding it hard enough to not say anything until next month!! In fact, we've had a few minor slip-ups this past week where DH and I started to say stuff and then caught ourselves quickly. I don't think DD noticed, but we definitely need to be more careful til she knows!

Unfortunately it looks like my DD doesn't fit any of your kids' ages exactly. She'll be 9 when we're on the cruise.

Count me in with the obsessors!!!!! I've been obsessing about this cruise since we booked it! I think I know which excursions we'll do and everything!

I've just started looking at excursions, now that we know we won't be in Mazatlan. Care to share what you're looking at doing? We are thinking of zip lining in PV and I know we're going to do a snorkeling catamaran trip my DH and I did on our honeymoon cruise a few years back in Cabo. Not sure what we're gonna do with our 2nd day in Cabo, though.

I'm kind of annoyed with the DCL port adventures because most of them say "ages 12 or up," but if you book the same exact tour NOT through DCL (zip lining in PV for instance), they allow 8 and up. I don't know why they do that, but it has given us no choice but to book our excursions on our own.

 

[swx72]

We received the telephone call yesterday. I suppose I ought to sit down and start looking at trips to do. We're a little more/lot more limited as my daughter only turns 4 on May 30th (currently running round the house on a food high). She finishes school tomorrow but have her signed up for Summer school starting June 1st.

I'm also just starting to pull together bits and pieces for FE exchange and also things we're going to need knowing that if I see them now I ought to get them because I know when September rolls around and I want them they won't be there.

Looking forward to meeting more of you on the trip!

 

[Super*Mum]

I am subscribed to this thread so when I received an email on my iPhone about the call from Disney I rushed home.. sure enough we got the recorded message too. (I am thinking that I want to give them my cell number now just in case anything else pops up.)

According to the website we are "Itinerary A" now:

Day Port Ashore Onboard
1 Los Angeles, California — 4:00 p.m.
2 At Sea — —
3 At Sea — —
4 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 7:30 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
5 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 11:15 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
6 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 7:15 a.m. 1:30 p.m.
7 At Sea — —
8 Los Angeles, California 9:30 a.m. —


That second Cabo day is pretty short.

So now what I am obsessing over is what day (assuming I have any choice) to do Palo. Since this is our first cruise I don't want to miss the Animator's Palate show, Pirate's Night (or any other of the themed dining nights). Any thoughts?

 

[yukongirl123]

I am subscribed to this thread so when I received an email on my iPhone about the call from Disney I rushed home.. sure enough we got the recorded message too. (I am thinking that I want to give them my cell number now just in case anything else pops up.)

According to the website we are "Itinerary A" now:

Day Port Ashore Onboard
1 Los Angeles, California — 4:00 p.m.
2 At Sea — —
3 At Sea — —
4 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 7:30 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
5 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 11:15 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
6 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 7:15 a.m. 1:30 p.m.
7 At Sea — —
8 Los Angeles, California 9:30 a.m. —


That second Cabo day is pretty short.

So now what I am obsessing over is what day (assuming I have any choice) to do Palo. Since this is our first cruise I don't want to miss the Animator's Palate show, Pirate's Night (or any other of the themed dining nights). Any thoughts?

Thanks for posting the itinerary. When we were on this cruise in March, we did Cabo, PV and Cabo again... You can still find lots to do in Cabo, even on a short stay. Water taxi are readily avaiable at the pier, so you could always take one to the beach, take a mini cruise to the arch and sea lion rock. Also, there is a market right at the end of the pier.

I'm not sure if you can find out your dining rotation beforehand or not. You could get in touch with DCL and request a specific rotation, and at least let you know which nights are formal, semi formal and pirates night. I know that you will be in each restaurnt at least twice, but Animators will have the show only once during any rotation. If you wanted to try Palo, brunch could be a good option for you instead of dinner. Then you could be in the dining rooms every night.

You could also check with Palo once on board to see if they can fit you in. Often there are empty tables, because people who have previously booked don't show up.

Janice

 

[lostinyonkers]

Hmm that itinerary sure changes things up for me! The snorkeling cruise we were planning on doing in Cabo leaves at 11AM, so that's not gonna be able to happen. Bummer!

yukongirl: I didn't realize you were just on this cruise in March. AWESOME!! Question for you (or anyone who might know) ... I really want early seating and we were told it was full so we are "on the waiting list" now, but assigned late seating. I can't remember what the procedure is for trying to change that. Do you have any experience with that?

 

[yukongirl123]

While we prefer early seating, the cruise in March was kind of last minute, so we were assigned late seating. We went to Rocking D Bar when we boarded, and asked to be moved to the early seating. The first three days, the restaurant manger and said that nothing was avaible. On the fourth day, he called again and said something had opened up. By that time, we really had gotten to know our tablemates and wanted to stay with them.

The March cruise was really busy, lots of famities and kids because of spring break. This cruise may not be as crowded though....

Janice

 

[Super*Mum]

Janice! Thank you for all the excellent info re: Palo! Glad to know I have a few choices to pursue before committing to a Palo day!

 

[yukongirl123]

Janice! Thank you for all the excellent info re: Palo! Glad to know I have a few choices to pursue before committing to a Palo day!

Brunch is a nice option also, I've done the High Tea, but probably wouldn't do so again, for some reason the ambience is just not the same, and the menu offerings are not of the same quality.

Janice

 

[Jennifer in MI]

Ten minutes before ... are you kidding me?!! That is so cool!! I would LOVE to do that, but there is just no way I could hold it in that long!! I'm finding it hard enough to not say anything until next month!! In fact, we've had a few minor slip-ups this past week where DH and I started to say stuff and then caught ourselves quickly. I don't think DD noticed, but we definitely need to be more careful til she knows!

Unfortunately it looks like my DD doesn't fit any of your kids' ages exactly. She'll be 9 when we're on the cruise.



I've just started looking at excursions, now that we know we won't be in Mazatlan. Care to share what you're looking at doing? We are thinking of zip lining in PV and I know we're going to do a snorkeling catamaran trip my DH and I did on our honeymoon cruise a few years back in Cabo. Not sure what we're gonna do with our 2nd day in Cabo, though.

I'm kind of annoyed with the DCL port adventures because most of them say "ages 12 or up," but if you book the same exact tour NOT through DCL (zip lining in PV for instance), they allow 8 and up. I don't know why they do that, but it has given us no choice but to book our excursions on our own.

Yup. 10 minutes!! We stayed at one of the port hotels even! We told them it was on our way home from WDW (we'd just spent a week there) and I had booked it on points. Heehee. It was great!!!

Excursions - In Cabo we were thinking of a couple things -
1. Beach Getaway for all of us
2. Split up - Canopy Adventure for the older and the Dolphin Swim for the rest of us.
3. The teenagers want to do the surfing one. But, I'm nervous about them going off themselves.

PV
1. Canopy (if they didn't do it in Cabo)
2. Paradise Beach
3. City Tour
4. On our own - Crown Paradise Club Hotel. i wrote to them and they said it is $35/day for adults and kids 6 − 12 are $18. All-inclusive!
4. On our own - Las Animes Adventure Park Beach Break. They have ziplines for the younger ones and things to do for the adults too, so we wouldn't have to split up.

I'm a little nervous about doing things on my own though. We did it a number of times in the Caribbean, but all the press about Mexico has me a little nervous!!!

 

[yukongirl123]

Yup. 10 minutes!! We stayed at one of the port hotels even! We told them it was on our way home from WDW (we'd just spent a week there) and I had booked it on points. Heehee. It was great!!!

Excursions - In Cabo we were thinking of a couple things -
1. Beach Getaway for all of us
2. Split up - Canopy Adventure for the older and the Dolphin Swim for the rest of us.
3. The teenagers want to do the surfing one. But, I'm nervous about them going off themselves.

PV
1. Canopy (if they didn't do it in Cabo)
2. Paradise Beach
3. City Tour
4. On our own - Crown Paradise Club Hotel. i wrote to them and they said it is $35/day for adults and kids 6 − 12 are $18. All-inclusive!
4. On our own - Las Animes Adventure Park Beach Break. They have ziplines for the younger ones and things to do for the adults too, so we wouldn't have to split up.

I'm a little nervous about doing things on my own though. We did it a number of times in the Caribbean, but all the press about Mexico has me a little nervous!!!

On our MR cruise in March, we had tablemates that did the Dolphin encounter and just loved it. Our other tablesmates did the zipline in PV and had a blast. We did the Land's End Coastal cruise-it was a bit boring. On our short day in Cabo, we just got of the ship and wandered about on our own.

We did the City Tour in PV and really enjoyed it, it gave a good overview of PV, and our guide was very knowledgeable. My son really enjoyed the Pinata Party at the end. This cruise, we are hoping to do the pirate ship encounter.
I would love to do the zipline, but my son has some physical & developmental issues that prevent him from this type of activity.

Janice

 

[lostinyonkers]

I'm a little nervous about doing things on my own though. We did it a number of times in the Caribbean, but all the press about Mexico has me a little nervous!!!

I'm the same. We have always booked things on our own (and saved lots of money doing it!!), but now I'm kinda thinking it might be worth the extra money to have a little bit more peace of mind. I don't feel too concerned about Cabo, but I do worry a little bit about PV.

If we had to choose excursions today, I think we'd do the Las Caletas Hideaway in PV and the Beach Resort Getaway in Cabo. Although, I emailed Cabo Saling (cabo sailing dot com) yesterday and they got back to me right away with a really nice email and a good price for a 3 1/2 hour snorkeling sailboat cruise. I've read some great reviews, so after we find out for sure about DH's time off work this week, we might just go ahead and take the plunge and book it.

On the short day in Cabo we'll probably just roam around on our own. Maybe we'll rent a waverunner or something. We'll probably just play that one by ear.

 

[yukongirl123]

It's easy to do Cabo on your own. Ther's a market at the end of the pier. Also water taxi are readily available-you could go to the beach near the Arches ( forget the name) and/or take a mini cruise to sea lion rock. I felt really safe doing this port on our own.

Janice

 

[Super*Mum]

I am dead set on doing Las Caletas Hideaway in PV and was planning on the Dolphin Encounter in Cabo but never felt 100% about it... then I read the anti-Dolphin Encounter thread and now know I wouldn't enjoy myself. Oh ignorance... I miss you.

Therefore... still trying to figure out Cabo. The short Cabo day I am thinking we will just walk around and go to a restaurant. Nothing major.

 

[lostinyonkers]

I am dead set on doing Las Caletas Hideaway in PV.

Doesn't that look great!?! I have read mixed reviews, but looking over their website and their YouTube video, it looks perfectly awesome to me! My daughter just went on a cruise last month with her dad and they went on the Los Veranos canopy zip lining tour and she absolutely LOVED it, so I know she's gonna push to go back and do that again. But I keep thinking about Las Caletas and everything about it looks like something I wanna do, so mommy might have to win this one.

 

[RJLechner]

We'll be there too! My DH and I are celebrating my 40th bday. We are big Disney fans and love DCL so it's the BEST birthday gift!!!

We also have 2nd dining...looks like we'll have a lot of "friends" in the dining room.

We looked at Cabo excursions a few weeks ago and decided we wanted to do B.O.B (underwater "snuba" on moterized scooters). When I looked at the Disney Cruise website this weekend and it's no longer listed. Do you think there's a chance they will add it back? We were really excited to try this. If not we'll probably do the Discover Diving tour.

On our short day in Cabo we plan to book Parasailing on our own.

In PV we're planning to try the zip lines.

 

[yukongirl123]

We'll be there too! My DH and I are celebrating my 40th bday. We are big Disney fans and love DCL so it's the BEST birthday gift!!!

We also have 2nd dining...looks like we'll have a lot of "friends" in the dining room.

We looked at Cabo excursions a few weeks ago and decided we wanted to do B.O.B (underwater "snuba" on moterized scooters). When I looked at the Disney Cruise website this weekend and it's no longer listed. Do you think there's a chance they will add it back? We were really excited to try this. If not we'll probably do the Discover Diving tour.

On our short day in Cabo we plan to book Parasailing on our own.

In PV we're planning to try the zip lines.

Are you prebooking the Parasailing?

Janice

 

[RJLechner]

We haven't decided if we are pre-booking the parasailing or not. I really want to make sure we get to do it. But since Disney doesn't offer parasailing so I have to book on our own and I'm not confident that DCL won't make other changes to our itinerary I don't want to book and then our cabo day change. I did come across one site that offered parasailing and have a refund policy if your ship doesn't dock. So that may be an option.